Silver Sea
by DarkScales
Summary: Silver isn't Giovanni's son. He's Lugia's. Or: Silver is unaccountably fond of the ocean, Gold is just confused, and Silver was never truly cruel to his pokémon. Gameverse.
1. Aquaticus

**So, this is a fic that I came up with months ago but have only recently dug out of the recesses of my writing documents. It's a bit rushed and largely unedited, with gratuitous use of italics and a couple lame attempts at humor that, while seemed funny when I was writing them at the time, may not actually be that funny at all... -_-'**

 **Anyways, it's three chapters, completed, and I'll be uploading the next two chapters after this over the course of the next few days or so. Please feel free to critique, let me know what was good and what wasn't, send my a PM, or leave a review. I really do cherish each and every bit of feedback I get, so please don't be shy! And enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the** **Pokémon franchise. If I did, Fairy-type wouldn't exist.**

* * *

 _Aquaticus: Latin, meaning "found near water"_

* * *

Gold wasn't sure why, but he was somewhat surprised that Silver was actually a better swimmer than him. _He_ was the one who had grown up next to an ocean, after all. And Silver had been raised in...

Wait. Actually, he didn't know. Silver had never said anything about it; so for all he knew the redhead really had lived on the coast.

"Hey, Silver," he called out as the pale teen surfaced, breaking the water with a small splash. "Did you ever live near the sea?"

Silver didn't answer right away, instead seeming to growl in annoyance to himself as he pushed thick strands of red hair out of his face. Water dripped out in clear streams, running down his face as his locks hung down in tangled wet clumps. Behind him, his feraligatr huffed out something in pokéspeak, sounding amused.

"Yes, I _know_ I have to cut my hair," Silver muttered irritably. "I'll get it done at the next town." Then his attention switched to Gold's question, as he glanced up to look at the other teen. "Yeah, I did."

"Really? When?" Gold asked curiously, watching as Silver waded out of the water and onto the shore. He stumped over to his bag, leaving a dark trail of water in the sand, and rummaged inside for a moment. After a second, he pulled out a hairband, and promptly used it to tie back his hair.

"Sometime," Silver answered evasively.

Crouched in the shade beneath a tree, Sneasel let out a sort of barking laugh. "Snea, sneasel," he snickered.

Silver rolled his eyes as he headed back into the water. "You, hush."

Typhlosion, who was sitting as far away from the tides as he could, made a questioning sound. Sneasel replied, and the two pokémon had a brief conversation.

"Aw, look. They're making friends," Gold teased. He didn't push more about the question, knowing that Silver had a tendency to clam up if he pried too much.

Silver didn't reply, instead disappearing under the waves in a flash of pale skin and red hair. Feraligatr followed, surprisingly graceful for such a large and bulky pokémon.

Gold watched them for a moment, and marveled at how _natural_ his friend looked in the water. He was moving with an easy grace that made him look not unlike an aquatic pokémon himself. It was similar to the natural grace he possessed on land, as well, but... smoother, somehow.

Interesting.

Then all other thoughts flew from his head as something unidentifiable lifted him up into the air- the world spun, tilting crazily in a blur of blue sky and even bluer surf and then-

 _SPLASH!_

Gold sputtered, wiping seawater from his face as Ambipom hooted with laughter on the shore. Then he grinned, throwing his head back in wild guffaws as the hooting became a startled screech. Typhlosion snorted, having tossed Ambipom into the ocean after the primate's trainer, then crossed his arms and looked on with a satisfied look as the two-tailed monkey got smacked in the face by a cresting wave.

Silver's head broke the water with a quiet ripple. He then swam up beside Gold, saw the ensuing play fight that was rapidly breaking out on the beach, and _laughed_.

For some reason, Gold thought that it sounded like a song.

* * *

"So, you play an instrument? You?" Gold asked, one eyebrow quirked and skepticism evident in his tone. "Huh."

Silver rolled his eyes, hands in his pockets as he walked along. "Yes. Me. Is it really so hard to believe?" he asked, in a voice as dry as the sun-baked sands they'd just left behind.

Gold shrugged. "Nah, it's not that, it's just- well, okay, sort of. I mean, you just don't seem like a musical type of person. What do you play, even?"

Silver didn't answer for a moment, seemingly debating over what to say. At length, he seemed to come to a decision, and replied, "Ocarina."

Gold blinked. "Sorry, oca- what now?"

"Ocarina," the redhead replied somewhat testily. "It's a wind instrument. You probably haven't heard of it; they're fairly uncommon."

"Oh," the gold-eyed teen said dumbly. "I see."

He didn't, and they both knew it, but Silver only huffed and kept walking.

After another minute or so, Gold queried, "What does an ocarina look like? Is it like a pokéflute?"

"No. Different shape."

"How?"

"More oval. Shorter."

"...Ah. Can I see?"

At that, Silver threw him his patented 'are-you-stupid' look that he seemed to keep reserved specially for Gold and idiotic rookies who thought they could take him on. "It's a delicate instrument made of wood and coral. I regularly find myself in situations where such a thing would get smashed, cracked, or scratched. Do you _honestly_ think I'd carry something like that with me?"

Gold thought it over, then realized his error. "Oh, yeah. Right."

Silver rolled his eyes again. Then, almost too quiet for the other teen to hear (and Gold suspected he hadn't been meant to hear it at all), the teen muttered, "Besides. It was a gift from my mother."

At that point, Gold realized that it would probably be best to drop the subject.

* * *

Two weeks later, Gold was forced to drag Silver inside from a raging storm. It was a real tempest, with the winds howling, thunder booming, rain pounding, and all.

"You idiot!" Gold had all but hollered as he saw his friend outside the window, standing on the lawn with his back to the house and face tipped up at the sky. Lightning flashed, throwing Silver in sharp relief as his shadow stretched long over the rain-slick grass. "What are you doing out there?!"

Gold's mother poked her head out of the kitchen at her son's shout, expression puzzled. "Gold?" she asked. "What are you doing?"

The teen looked up from where he'd been pulling on his shoes, hat sliding haphazardly sideways on his head. "Going out. What does it look like?" he grunted, pulling on his shoe with one final tug. "My _idiot_ of a best friend is standing out there in the rain like he's a freaking vaporeon with Water Absorb or something, so I need to go get him before he catches cold."

Gold's mother chuckled, leaning back into the kitchen. "Okay," she called over her shoulder, "just make sure you don't catch cold yourself."

"Okay, Mom," Gold threw back quickly in response as he pulled open the door and ran out. "Stupid Silver," he muttered to himself. "I swear, it's like he's trying to drown out there or something!"

Squinting against the driving rain, Gold held himself back from dashing too quickly across the lawn. It would look pretty stupid if he slipped and fell, after all.

 _Not that Silver would notice,_ he thought with exasperation as he grabbed his hat so it wouldn't fly away. _He's in his own little world out there._

Sure enough, there he was, hands in his pockets as he stared at the dark, rumbling clouds. His red hair whipped around his face like he was some sort of dramatic movie hero, and his mercurial eyes seemed to gaze out into the distance.

"Hey, Silver!" Gold barked as he drew nearer, mud squelching unpleasantly beneath his sneakers as the wetness quickly soaked through to his socks. "What are you doing?!"

For a moment, Silver didn't respond. Then he jolted, turning around with eyes wide in surprise as he appeared to only just notice the other teen. "What?"

"I _said,_ what are you doing?!" Gold repeated loudly as a particularly hard gust of wind blew by, almost making him overbalance and slip as it all but knocked him over. Raising his voice so as to be heard over the storm, Gold yelled, "It's crazy out here! _You're_ crazy! Get inside before you drown or something!"

For some reason, Silver appeared to find his words amusing, lips quirking up an a half-smirk as he stuck his hands in his pockets and began to amble towards the house. "Heh. I won't drown," he stated confidently. "I'd sooner die of thirst."

Cryptic words given, the redhead brushed past Gold, leaving his friend to hurry after him in confusion.

Meanwhile, the storm roared on.

* * *

Three days. It had been raining for _three. Frikin'. Days._

Gold was bored. Gold was very, very, bored.

Silver was not. Silver was, in fact, taking advantage of the peace and relative quiet to relax, take a break, and let his guard down (somewhat) in a place where he knew for sure he wasn't going to get stabbed in the back for it. Plus, it helped that he knew he could always use Alakazam's Teleport to escape if it really came down to it.

Gold's mother had wandered in a few times, offering cookies and hot chocolate, but for the most part, the teens were alone in the small house's living room. Well, except for the various pokémon spread out across the furniture and carpet, that was.

Typhlosion, curled up in a giant furry mass on the carpet, napped alongside the great heap of blue scales that was Feraligatr. The Fire-type's flames were practically nonexistent, dimmed to just the barest glimmer of gently pulsing red and heat. The Water-type's tail was twitching slightly, and his ridges brushed against the side of the chair Silver was sitting in. Both fully-evolved starters were snoring loudly.

Sneasel, on the other hand, had elected to settle down at Silver's feet, and was sharpening his claws on a medium-sized rock. Crobat perched on the back of Silver's chair, while Magneton hovered by the window. Next to the mechanical pokémon was Alakazam, meditating quietly with spoons crossed. Last was Gengar, who hovered in the darkest corner of the room as he dozed lightly.

Gold's pokémon were similarly arranged about the area, sleeping or relaxing in various locations. Near Feraligatr was Ambipom, leaning against the wall as he napped. Togekiss perched on one arm of the couch, chest rising and falling gently as he rested. Politoed sat on the couch itself, curled up on the cushions- right next to Sudowoodo, who sat still as a statue while he slept. Finally there was Sunflora, who had rooted herself into a large pot of dirt alongside some daisies by the window, hoping for any little splash of sunlight that might possibly escape from the grey clouds and rain.

"Silver," Gold complained as he set down his book, "I'm _bored_."

Silver grunted in reply, but otherwise offered no comment.

Gold frowned and tried again. "Silver. I'm _bored_."

The other teen looked up from his book, a flash of irritation passing through his eyes. "And?" he drawled, one eyebrow raised. "How is that my problem?"

Gold blinked. "Um..."

Silver let out a snort and turned back to his book.

The black-haired trainer drooped. "Sil _verrr_..."

On the carpet, Typhlosion made a groggy _whuff_ sound and turned over on his side. Feraligatr rumbled, mirroring the movement in the opposite direction. Togekiss _churred_ sleepily, as Crobat's wings rustled and twitched before settling.

"If you're bored," the redhead stated blandly, "then read a book."

Gold's eyes ran over the nearby bookshelves in a cursory glance. "I've read them all already," he whined. "Even the super boring one on Johto's history."

"Hm." Silver flipped another page.

The New Bark trainer paused, then, eyes landing on the book his friend was still reading. "Except..." he said slowly, " _that_ one."

"Mm?" The silver-eyed teen made a vaguely questioning noise.

Golden orbs skimmed the cover, boldly entitled _Myths and Legends of the Whirlpools_ in elegantly flowing letters. A picture of Lugia rising from the sea was embossed on the front, outlined in midnight blues and starlight silvers that shimmered when they caught the light. Deciding that it looked interesting enough, Gold felt a grin break over his face as he leaned forwards.

Silver looked up sharply as the other male got up and walked over. "Hey, what are you-"

Gold darted towards him, and Silver let out an indignant squawk as he yanked his book out of Gold's reach. Gold lunged again, a laugh breaking free from his throat as he _finally_ found the diversion he'd been looking for.

Silver had always been notoriously possessive of his stuff, after all.

* * *

A dry breeze swirled across the field, making the sun-baked golden grasses bend and ripple in undulating waves. It didn't do much to cool things down, however- instead, all it really did was push more hot air around. It was the height of summer, after all, and right at noontime as well. For all intents and purposes, the normally fair-weathered dirt road had turned into a parched, unforgiving desert.

Silver hated it with a passion. Taking another sip from his water bottle, he cursed what little loyalty to Gold the bonds of friendship had instilled in him. Why, _why_ hadn't he just insisted on having Alakazam use Teleport to bring them both to the city in an instant? _Why_ had he allowed the other teen to talk him into walking the entire way there, "Just for old time's sake"?

"You know we never really traveled together, so what's the point?" he grumbled, flicking a persistent strand of russet-red hair out of his eyes. "There were _never_ any 'old times' for this to be the sake of."

Gold laughed. "Ah, cheer up, Silver! C'mon, if not for that, then for the memories! Isn't it just the _tiniest_ bit nostalgic to be walking along this path? We were just adorable little kids the first time, but now-"

"You're still a little kid, just without the adorable," the redhead muttered before drinking a bit more water.

The black-haired trainer chuckled, sticking his hands in his pockets as Typhlosion and Feraligatr conversed in low tones behind them. Then he noticed something, and asked, "Hey, isn't that, like, your second big water bottle since this morning?"

Pausing as he prepared to twist open the cap of another bottle, Silver scowled. "I dehydrate easily," he informed Gold in a flat tone.

Gold watched, one eyebrow raised as he saw his friend down another couple gulps. Now that he thought about it, Silver did that a lot- drank water, he meant. It seemed like Silver _always_ had at least one water bottle on him, sometimes even two or three. And he was unusually persistent in making sure they stayed filled, too.

Sure, most trainers did carry more supplies on them than other travelers, but that was because they had to care for their pokémon as well, not just themselves. Silver carried around all those water bottles for _himself,_ separate from the ones for his pokémon. Why was that? Yes, he'd just said that he dehydrated easily, but wasn't that just a tad bit extreme?

When Gold voiced his thoughts, though, Silver refused to say anything more than what he'd already admitted.

Odd.


	2. Argyrus

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 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Wish I did, but alas...**

* * *

 _Argyrus: Greek, meaning "silver"_

* * *

"Hey, Silver, I'm- holy Arceus, is that one of Lugia's feathers?!"

Silver jolted in his seat, hastily tucking the feather back into his shirt. "No."

"It _was,_ and I'd know, because I still have the one I got from that old man in Pewter ages ago. Where did you find that? And did you make it into a _necklace?_ " Gold asked, gleeful and curious at having caught the other male wearing _jewelry_ of all things. Much less jewelry with the feather of a _Legendary_ as its centerpiece! He really hasn't pegged Silver as the type to wear a necklace like that, but he supposed there were still things he didn't know about his somewhat mysterious friend.

"It's none of your business," Silver muttered grumpily as he stuck his hands in his pockets, face tinged red with embarrassment. Blatantly changing the subject, he asked, "What took you so long, anyway?"

Gold wasn't fooled, but wisely decided against pushing the subject when he saw his friend's dangerous expression. It seemed like Silver had been extra moody lately, even more so than usual. He didn't know why, and every time he'd tried to find out the cause, his friend had clammed up tighter than a krabby's pincers. So, instead, the New Bark trainer pasted on a bright grin and held out a bag of pastries.

"Oh, I stopped to grab these on the way back," he explained. "With extra sea salt, too. Just don't touch the cinnamon rolls, 'cause those are _mine_."

Silver rolled his eyes as he pulled out a peanut butter cookie (with extra sea salt, as Gold knew he liked it) to nibble on. Sneasel, crouched at his side, made an imploring noise and stared at it greedily.

It was a testament to just how far Silver's relationship to his pokémon had progressed in that, instead of ignoring the Dark/Ice-type, Silver only sighed and broke off a chunk for him. "You greedy thing. You're going to get fat if you keep begging for sweets like this," he told the weasel-like creature.

Sneasel just let out a happy cry and munched contentedly on the piece of cookie. "Snea _sel!_ "

Gold laughed as he reached in and grabbed two cinnamon rolls, feeding one to Ambipom and biting into the second one himself.

In the back of his mind, however... he still wondered about that silver lugia's feather.

* * *

"Is your friend alright?" Professor Elm wondered, peering out the window. "He's been out there for an awfully long time."

Gold shrugged dismissively, not bothering to look up from where he was carefully disentangling a chikorita from an accident with his newly-learned Vine Whip. "Oh, he's fine. Wouldn't worry about him; he's probably just down at the beach or something to get away from everyone. Silver can still be pretty antisocial at times, and he's not really fond of people that much."

"Yes, I'd noticed," Professor Elm murmured, one eye on a rattata who was getting a bit too close to some power cords for comfort and the other on an overly curious pidgey who kept trying to hop into his keyboard. "It's nice how he's agreed to help out here for a few days, though. And I must admit, I was a little surprised to see that feraligatr doing so well. I was worried, at first, but now at least I can lay those fears to rest."

"Yeah, Silver's definitely gotten a lot better," Gold agreed as he finally loosed the vines and sent the little Grass-type on its way. "Did you know his golbat evolved into a crobat? And he managed to get his alakazam to work well with his gengar, too. That takes some skill. Not to mention that Sneasel positively adores him. He's actually managed to win his pokémons' undying loyalty really fast."

"Oh, that _is_ impressive. Crobat's evolution is just about a good a sign as any, as well. His team looks quite happy and healthy, last I saw. You were right about that sneasel adoring him," the Professor laughed. "It was crawling all over him earlier, chattering away. We all found it hilarious, though he didn't seem to agree."

Gold chuckled at the mental image. "Ah. Silver doesn't have much of a sense of humor, does he? I swear, it's like his humor-sensors were stunted from birth or something. He always takes everything so seriously." Gold held back a yawn, taking a quick glance at the wall clock to check the time.

The rest of the researchers in the room chuckled with him, far more at ease with Silver than they had been earlier. The mercurial-eyed teen had been initially a little... off-putting, perhaps, was the best way to put it. Over the hours, though, they saw Gold tease him enough and Sneasel use him like a jungle gym enough to relax a bit more around him. His complete and utter cluelessness around the more complicated machinery definitely hadn't hurt, either.

Of course, that was the moment that Silver himself decided to slip back into the building, a redheaded shadow as he padded up behind Gold with nearly silent feet. That wasn't the least bit creepy at all, though, since he had _totally_ seen Silver walk in. And Gold most certainly did _not_ let out a very undignified and high-pitched squeaking noise when Silver tapped his shoulder, either. Nope, no squeaking noises. _None_ whatsoever.

"Relax," Silver muttered as Gold checked to make sure none of his hairs had actually turned white. "It's just me."

"Sel, nea sne," Sneasel chittered gleefully.

The pidgey squawked in fear and instantly took to the rafters. Sneasel perked up and stared at it intently, a worrying gleam in his eyes. Silver let out a sigh and picked up the Dark/Ice-type by the scruff of his neck, bringing him right up to eye level as his trainer scolded him.

Professor Elm watched the interaction with thinly veiled amusement as Sneasel curled in on himself, expression vaguely guilty. "Sneasel," he protested once, but Silver only growled and reiterated his words.

"No hunting. Not here. Hunt _later,_ understand?" the redhead ordered sternly. He shook his pokémon's scruff a bit for emphasis. Sneasel grumbled, but complied. Silver huffed, but after a moment his gaze softened and he touched his forehead briefly to Sneasel's in forgiveness before releasing him.

"Well, I'll admit, that was certainly one of the more unusual disciplinary methods I've seen," Professor Elm mused after Silver had placed Sneasel back on the floor and they were both sent to help corral an unruly bunch of wingull.

Gold looked at the Professor in surprise. "Really? What do you mean?"

Professor Elm nodded towards where Silver appeared to be trying to herd the wingull. Oddly enough, it even seemed to be _working_. "It's not all that strange for trainers to sort of, well... I suppose the best way to put it is that they emulate pokémon. Oftentimes, they respond best to body language, after all, and trainers will reflect that to mirror what they say with words.

"What your friend just did there is a good way to deal with young, rebellious pokémon who haven't yet learned who is boss, so to speak. With notoriously vicious species such as that sneasel, it is particularly important to establish dominance. However, he added in the growl and a little shake. That in itself is a bit stranger, but not overly so. No, what was truly odd about what he did was the combination of those actions.

"You see," Professor Elm continued, in full lecture mode now, "what he did is something most often seen in mother pokémon with their children. The chastising tone of the growl, the way he deliberately kept Sneasel right at eye level... and then they touched foreheads in the end, a symbol that all was forgiven and that he was no longer angry." The Professor shrugged, a wry grin quirking his lips. "I merely thought that it was a bit unusual. I usually only see that sort of thing in people who have lived amongst pokémon for a very long time, usually their entire lives. And not fully domesticated ones, either.

"Although," he added thoughtfully, "I could be reading too much into this. For all I know, he was merely taught to use this method from his own parents or something."

Gold eyed Silver with a speculative gaze, the gears in his mind already mulling over this new puzzle. He knew full well who Silver's father was, but as for Silver's mother- well, that was still a mystery. "Yeah, or something..."

* * *

Silver liked dark colors. Gold leaned more towards light ones. Silver preferred, well, silver, and Gold preferred, well, gold. It was simple.

And then it wasn't.

Gold blinked. Then blinked again, rubbing his eyes for good measure. No. That couldn't be right. He had to be hallucinating or something. There was no way Silver would really...

" _Not. A. Word,_ " the redhead growled, teeth bared in something that looked far closer to a snarl than a smile.

His black-haired friend could only make an odd sort of strangled noise. "Erk," he choked out. Then, after a moment, he managed to form coherent words and questioned, "Holy Arceus, what are you _wearing?!_ "

Silver's glare, which had been downright acidic before, intensified until it was roughly the same intensity as the Hyper Beam of one of Lance's dragonites.

Oh. Oh, dear sweet mother of Arceus. This wasn't some bizarre, twisted dream or hallucination. Silver was _actually-_

Gold couldn't take it anymore, and broke down in wild laughter. His mirth-filled guffaws were so loud they sent a flock of pidgey scattering into the air. His knees buckled and he clutched at his stomach, almost collapsing as he sagged against a tree trunk.

"Gold. _Shut. Up,_ " the other trainer hissed furiously. The redhead's face was flaming bright crimson with embarrassment and anger in equal measure. It was in stark contrast to exceedingly tacky and garish tropical shirt he wore, which was a lurid orange and covered with cartoonish renditions of exeggutor and chatot.

The shirt looked like it was trying to hit _every single_ tropical tourist stereotype it could, and the brown khaki shorts over beach sandals that Silver also sported only compounded the effect. The entire horrifying ensemble was topped off with an overly large straw hat that looked, quite frankly, _ridiculous_.

Gold howled with laughter. Silver appeared torn between running for the hills or exploding in a fit of apoplectic humiliation.

Silver took a deep breath, hands balling into fists. "Gold, I _swear to Arceus-_ "

"Sorry, sorry!" Gold snickered, waving him off as he brought himself under control. "It's just- what are you _wearing?_ "

The redhead growled- actually, literally, _growled_ like Typhlosion when he was cranky. "My brother," he muttered, almost too low for Gold to hear, "has a _cruel_ sense of humor."

Gold blinked, all thoughts of clothing suddenly falling out of his head. "Wait- _brother?!_ " he exclaimed, mental images of mini-clones of his best friend instantly filtering into his mind's eye.

Silver flinched and denied it as a slip of the tongue, changing the subject right after. Oh. It sounded like Gold wasn't supposed to have heard that...

* * *

"...Silver?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you an only child?"

"...What do you think?"

"I think you aren't."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because yesterday you said you had a brother."

"No I didn't."

"You _did,_ I remember. You said he had a cruel sense of humor. I guess that explains the outfit?"

"I said nothing of the sort."

"...Sil _ver_..."

"What?"

"C'mon, _please?_ You're my best friend! You can tell me your secrets and stuff! Seriously, I won't tell anyone else if you don't want me to. Pinky promise, cross my heart and hope to die, and all that."

"...Sorry, Gold. Not this one."

* * *

A week. _Seven whole days_ of searching, and not a _hint_ of anything even _remotely_ resembling the legendary Guardian of the Sea. Not a feather, not a footprint, not even a ripple in the waves. It was downright _maddening_.

(Well, actually, there _had_ been that huge shadow under the cliff for a moment, but upon further consideration Gold was fairly sure that had been a wailmer or something. So that didn't count.)

"Seriously, whatever made Professor Elm think that Lugia would come here?" he wondered aloud to himself as he walked along the beach. Togekiss glided slowly overhead and Typhlosion lumbered along at his back, all three of them watching for any sign of the Legendary.

The beach itself was barely more than a narrow strip of rock-strewn sand, the dunes covered in thin layers of scraggly brush and the waters too shallow for any but the lightest of boats. It was a far cry from the bottomless depths and heaving waves that surrounded the Whirl Islands, that was for sure.

So why had the Lugia been sighted there? For that matter, why was it so far from home? The Whirl Islands were nearly on the other side of the coast, near Cianwood. The beach was nearly on the Johto-Kanto border, close to New Bark. For what reason would the great Guardian of the Sea come that far east?

Gold sighed. He wished Silver was there. Or Lyra, even. He just wanted some company, someone to talk to. Sure, his pokémon were his closest companions, but they couldn't communicate in human speech like his (very much human) friends could.

Actually, for that matter, where _was_ Silver? Lyra was helping Professor Elm with a different errand somewhere over by Goldenrod, he knew, but Silver had- once again -dropped off the map. Gold had previously thought that he was training in the Dragon's Den again, but the black-haired teen had talked to Clair just the day before. She had told him that Silver hadn't been around Blackthorn for a good few weeks, at least.

Gold tucked his hands into his pockets as a cool breeze swirled in off the sea. It carried the distinctive scent of the ocean, all salty brine and wet seaweed and aquatic creatures. Out in the distance he could see a large cluster of tentacool bobbing up and down in the surf, as a flock of wingull descended in a rush of beating wings on a large series of rocks.

Typhlosion huffed, letting out a wash of heat as his fiery mane blazed higher. "Ty, sion phlo," he growled in the language of pokémon. It sounded vaguely irritated, a perfect mirror of Gold's own emotions.

"Yeah, I hope we find Lugia soon too," the trainer agreed. "Although, you'd think that we'd have at least found _something_ by now. I mean, Lugia's not exactly inconspicuous, right? And this place is so far away from where it lives that I'm sure it would've been noticed. You think maybe it's a hoax or something? Wouldn't be the first time people tried to fake Legendary sightings for publicity."

Typhlosion only shrugged and released a quizzical snort. _Who knows,_ he seemed to say.

A little ways up ahead, Togekiss found a scraggly berry bush and dove for it, letting out a happy cry as he did so. Gold laughed as the cheerful pokémon then returned with two extras after eagerly devouring quite a few, depositing one each in the hands (or paws) of Gold and Typhlosion.

"For me? Aw, thanks," he chuckled with a grin. Togekiss had a soft spot for berries of any kind- always had, really -and could never resist eating some whenever he came across a bush.

 _Not that I'm much better, though,_ Gold admitted to himself as he bit through the skin and tasted the sweet ripeness of the flesh underneath.

Typhlosion let out a happy rumble. Togekiss chirped, wings beating as he glided higher into the air. Gold watched him as he ascended, white feathers like a cloud against the sky. The teenager's heart suddenly felt lighter, as if Togekiss had taken it with him when he had flown into the sky. What did it matter if they didn't find anything? He had his pokémon, he had his friends (whenever they turned up, at least) and he needed nothing else. Gold, at that moment, realized that, in terms of how his life was going... he was actually very much content.

Of course, that just _had_ to be the exact moment that the world suddenly decided to explode around him.


	3. Arashi

**HUGE THANKS to natsuko-aya and AnoymousZzzZz for reviewing!**

 **Alright guys. Last chapter! I hope you all enjoyed the fic, and thanks for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Wish I did, but alas...**

* * *

 _Arashi: Japanese, meaning "storm"_

* * *

Gold opened his eyes. A haze of sand and debris and choking dust filled his vision, great clouds of it filling up the air like an artificial fogbank. His ears were ringing from the blasts, a static-like buzz that blocked his ears and threw off his balance. What had just-?

Thick, coarse fur blocked everything out, the scent of ashes and fire hitting his nose. Gold abruptly realized that Typhlosion had wrapped around him in a protective embrace, the starter pokémon holding him tight like a parent with their cub. Rocks and grit were digging into his side where it was pressed into the ground, the sensation oddly numbed as adrenaline blocked out the pain.

Gold shifted, the ringing already beginning to subside as he tried to collect his shattered thoughts. One moment he'd been walking along the beach, quietly as you please, and the next-

Smoke and explosions, artificial geysers of sand and surf spewing high into the air. The initial wave had knocked him off his feet, he remembered hearing Typhlosion's startled roar and Togekiss's cry of shock-

"Togekiss," he gasped, eyes wide but senses returning even as he began to squirm out of Typhlosion's grip. "Togekiss, I gotta- is he okay? Where is he?!"

Typhlosion growled, the rumbling noise filtering through the buzz with increasing volume every second, and tightened his grip. "Phlosion!" he barked, sharp and commanding.

Gold tried to struggle free, panic for Togekiss flooding his heart. Those blasts, they had come from farther inland, but fell from the sky in high-powered spheres of destruction. Launched, perhaps from some sort of machine? No, that didn't matter. Gold had to find his friend. What if Togekiss was hurt? What if he had been shot down, what if he hadn't been able to avoid the attack? What if, what if, _what if-_

A worried trill as a dark shape swooped through the clouds of grit, landing with barely a skid on the gravel. Gold's eyes flicked up, as Togekiss looked down at him from a sideways perspective, feathers coated in a layer of brown and grime but _thanks Arceus he was alright._ Oh, thank _Arceus_.

"Togekiss! You're safe!" he exclaimed, voice suffused with relief. Turning to his starter, Gold murmured, "Thank you," as Typhlosion huffed and finally consented to let him up. "You shielded me."

The Fire-type shook out his fur, worry lingering in his gaze as he scrutinized his trainer for injuries. After a moment, he made a satisfied noise and stood, turning his attention to the slowly dissipating haze of debris.

Gold inhaled and coughed, eyes watering as he squinted in the direction he thought the attack might have come from. "What the heck was _that?_ " he muttered to himself, trying to pinpoint something- _anything-_ besides dirt and sand and endless tones of brown. "Togekiss, can you clear it up?"

Togekiss chirped an affirmative and took to the skies, air currents swirling around him as he blew it all into nothing. Gold squinted, holding back another cough. Then, he saw the perpetrators behind the explosions- and promptly swore. Loudly and heavily.

"Team Rocket," he growled. "I should've known. Cockroaches, all of you. Just don't know when to give up, huh?"

Behind him, Typhlosion let out a menacing snarl, mane flaring up in a banner of crimson-gold as he prepared for a fight. Togekiss swooped down to join him as Gold released the rest of his pokémon, all six of them instantly fanning out in battle formation.

One of the Rocket members stepped forwards, probably their leader. "You may have forced Archer to disband us, but Team Rocket lives on! We will never be defeated!" she yelled, face twisted with hate. "When we find Giovanni-"

Gold rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Giovanni _abandoned_ Team Rocket. He didn't come when you tried to message him from Goldenrod, he didn't come to help when I demolished the rest of your organization, and he didn't so much as poke his head out of whatever hole he'd crawled into when Archer did the smart thing and followed in his footsteps. What makes you think he's going to do anything, even if you find him?" the younger trainer interrupted.

Meanwhile, he subtly gestured to Politoed, signaling the amphibious pokémon to use Hypnosis and knock out their attackers. Unfortunately, they seemed to have thought of that, as a full pack of houndoom with the odd mightyena was released to ward of Psychics.

"Nice try, but we've researched your pokémon thoroughly. We knew exactly how to counter each and every one of them," the leader gloated. Then, without wasting more time monologuing, she raised her arm, pointed imperiously at Gold, and cried, "Attack!"

Right on cue, the rest of the Rockets released all their pokémon at once, and Gold realized that he was in serious trouble. There were around ten Rocket trainers with at least two or three pokémon each, and, like the woman had said, they seemed tailored specifically for his team. Gold wondered offhandedly how long it must've taken them to organize everything, but then a blaze of fire roared past his head- and the beach dissolved into a chaotic, free-for-all battle.

* * *

Gold panted for breath, trying not to slip on the water-slick rocks. He wasn't stupid, and the Rockets had gotten him surrounded. So he'd bolted at the first opportunity, recalling his friends and heading for the safety of the Tohjo Falls. There was a hidden cave behind them, Gold knew, and he could take shelter in there while he regrouped and called for backup. A brilliant trainer he may have been, but even he knew when to retreat in the face of much greater opposition.

Besides, it wasn't like he was running away. He planned to fight the Rockets, just... on his own terms. From a strategic location where he could ambush them, instead of the other way around.

Gold cursed as he nearly overbalanced, managing to duck behind the waterfalls just before the Rockets burst into the cavern. He could see their distorted images through the pounding curtain of water, wavering and dark. However, that meant that there was a chance of them seeing him, so he dashed into the hidden cave as soon as he could.

Turned out, though... it was already occupied.

Gold skidded to a halt, sneakers nearly flying out from under him as he almost slipped on a particularly wet patch of mud. "Silver?" he asked, eyes wide and chest heaving as his heart pounded in his chest. "What are you doing here?"

Silver's head snapped around to stare at him, his expression startled. "Gold? What are _you_ doing here?"

Gold huffed a breathless laugh as he leaned against the wall, brushing some of the dirt off of his clothes. "Oh, you know. The usual," he replied flippantly. "Surviving explosions, fighting Team Rocket, being stupid enough to walk right into one of their traps... nothing major."

Silver was in front of him in a flash, letting Gold lean on him a bit as Silver helped him into the cave. "Team Rocket? But Archer disbanded them!"

"Yeah, well," Gold flinched as a cut on his ankle from a stray Razor Leaf twinged in warning, "turns out that not everybody agreed."

"No kidding," Silver agreed as he pushed Gold down into a chair. "Hold still, I'll grab bandages. Are your pokémon okay?"

"Superficial wounds only, both me and them," Gold assured his friend as he released his team. "Typhlosion shielded me from the explosions, though, and I'm worried there might be some shrapnel damage. Togekiss too; the beach was pretty rocky."

Alakazam appeared in a flash of light as he checked over Gold's companions, eyes glowing with psychic power. After a moment, he nodded at the two humans and telepathically told them, _They are fine. You are correct; superficial wounds only_.

Gold sighed in relief. "Oh, good. I was worried."

Ambipom chittered and hopped up to him, normally grinning face pinched with concern. "Ambi _pom!_ " he insisted, one of his hand-tails hovering over his trainer's ribs.

Silver's head snapped around from where he had been rummaging through his bag. "Gold, you said you weren't hurt!"

"I'm not!" he insisted, hastily covering up the long but shallow cut. "Seriously, relax. Besides, we got bigger things to worry about. Like the angry ex-Rockets who really, _really_ want revenge?"

A scoff. "Them? They're nothing. I'll take care of it. Now, _sleep_."

Gold tried to protest, but then Alakazam's eyes flashed white for just the briefest moment- and Gold sank deep into unconsciousness.

The last thing he saw was Silver, face a mask of ice-calm fury as he strode purposefully out of the cave.

* * *

"Poli, poli _toed!_ "

 _SLAP!_

"Agh! What the-!"

Gold startled awake, sputtering in confusion. He blinked up at the amphibious pokémon, who was bouncing slightly on his chest. "What the heck...?"

Looking around, Gold saw that he was laid out on what looked like Silver's sleeping bag, still in the cave behind Tohjo Falls. Muffling roars and crashes could be heard from outside, as humans and pokémon alike screamed in terror. The sound jolted Gold to full awareness like nothing else as he scrambled to his feet, fumbling for his pokéballs. Politoed leapt off and pointed urgently at the exit, seeming awed and fearful at the same time.

Gold paused briefly, confused at the odd signals that Politoed to sending out. Awed? By what? And... fearful? Again, of what?

 _Hopefully Silver's alright,_ he thought to himself as he all but ran out of the cave. _Taking on all those Rockets by himself- and he calls_ me _an idiot-!_

A blast, an explosion as the world shook and bits of rubble and water rained from the ceiling. A series of dirt chunks bounced off of Gold's hat as he ducked behind the waterfall, Typhlosion's pokéball already in hand-

And then his brain stopped short, as he came face-to-back with frikin' _Lugia_.

Every train of thought just stalled. Gold stared, eyes wide, unable to comprehend it as the Diving Pokémon reared its head back and let loose a raging Aeroblast. Even though he was standing behind it, the sheer power packed into the Legendary's signature attack made the ground shake and the cavern echo with the remnants of the blast.

Feet moving hardly before he even realized it, Gold ducked back behind the waterfall and pressed himself up against the wall. Politoed, who still hung back at the mouth of the hidden cave, dashed up to join him.

"Holy s***," Gold breathed, heart like a stampeding herd of rapidash in his chest. "Holy _s***_."

Politoed croaked in hoarse agreement.

Lugia's eyes narrowed, jaws open in a jagged snarl as it watched the Rockets flee. Their pokémon lay in scattered heaps across the ground, beaten and either unconscious or whimpering in pain. Before a single one reached safety, however, they were blocked... by Silver's pokémon. Who were very fearsome, very angry, and conspicuously lacking their trainer.

Feraligatr let loose a low, rumbling growl as he physically blocked the exit, spitting out Hydro Pumps to dissuade anyone who drew near. Crobat harried them from above as Sneasel dashed from Rocket to Rocket, sharp claws raking bloody gashes while Gengar and Magneton finished them off with paralyzing effect attacks. Alakazam knocked them out right after that, briefly touching the foreheads of each one for some unknown reason after he did so.

Once all the Rockets had been taken care of, Lugia finally seemed to subside as it closed its jaws and folded its hand-like wings back. A strangely familiar sigh was quietly exhaled and its neck stretched forwards, critically scrutinizing each unconscious Rocket member. After a moment, Lugia gave what appeared to be a satisfied nod, and Alakazam nodded back before lifting the fallen humans with Psychic and Teleporting away to parts unknown.

What followed, however, was even more strange. Silver's pokémon, instead of waiting for their trainer, congregated around the Legendary and started... well, for lack of a better word, Gold would have had to describe it as _fussing_. Silver's team was _fussing_ over Lugia, fluttering around to check for injuries and barking out things in almost chiding or worried tones. For Arceus's sake, Crobat and Sneasel had somehow ended up on top of Lugia's head and back and were attempting to _groom_ it!

Gold blinked owlishly at the spectacle, as stunned as if he'd run headfirst into a brick wall. What...? The sight simply wouldn't compute for him, like if he'd walked out one day and noticed that the sky was hot pink and the grass was neon orange.

Seriously. _What_.

...And where the _heck_ was Silver?!

Just then, a shudder rippled through Lugia's entire body. Its neck dropped and its shoulders rolled back, light flashing in a corona over sleek starlight feathers. Gold watched, confused by this turn of events. What was happening? Worry gathered in the pit of his stomach as another shudder wracked Lugia's body, starting from the head and working its way all the way down to the Legendary's tail.

Light pulsed out in flashing rings, a particularly bright glow emanating from a single spot in the center of Lugia's chest. The Diving Pokémon growled harshly, glowing brighter and brighter and-

Wait. Was Lugia _shrinking?_

Gold didn't even realize he had been holding his breath until he let it out, the sound of his exhale buried underneath the overlying roar of the waterfalls. Before his very eyes Lugia shrank down farther and farther, shape changing and morphing into a vague outline of blinding white in human form. It was like watching an evolution in reverse, as Lugia became smaller and slimmer than its great, awe-inspiring previous form. But Legendaries didn't evolve... did they?

Then all became clear only seconds later as the light faded, the disguising effulgence curled in on itself and disappeared.

But in its wake, a very different figure from before was left sprawled out on the ground. One with long red hair, overly pale skin, a far bigger secret than even his best friend had realized.

Silver coughed and groaned, pushing himself to his feet as he doubled over and tried to hack out his lungs. "Ugh," he muttered, the words barely discernible as Gold strained to hear. "Note to self; that many Aeroblasts in a row is a _bad idea_."

Naturally, it was right at that moment that Gold rediscovered his voice and yelped, "Sweet mother of Arceus, Silver is _Lugia!_ "

Apparently, the sound of a million gallons of rushing water wasn't _quite_ loud enough to cover that up, given that Silver audibly gasped and whirled around... meeting his friend's gaze squarely across the cavern. Then he took one stumbling step back, nearly tripping over Sneasel- before he whipped around and bolted, streaking out of the cavern before Gold could react.

Silver's team immediately leapt after him, and within a minute, Gold was left reeling in the cave of the Tohjo Falls.

* * *

Gold didn't see Silver again for almost a month.

Not that he didn't look, of course, but it was fruitless. The other teen had completely vanished, and no amount of calls to his pokégear (which always went to voicemail) or days of searching could find him. Gold even became desperate enough to try sending out a messenger pidgey, but even that returned a week later with the letter untouched.

"I don't get it," Gold exclaimed as he paced. "Where in the world could he _be?!_ "

Typhlosion watched from his spot beside the campfire, expression mournful. Gold wasn't the only one who had been missing a friend, after all. Togekiss, too, seemed less cheery than normal, and the rest of the team were in similarly despondent states.

"I've checked everywhere!" Gold all but yelled, hands gesticulating wildly as he brandished a map. "The Whirl Islands, Shamouti, Blackthorn, Tohjo Falls, Goldenrod, even the stupid Indigo Plateau! Seriously, where the _f***-_ "

 _WHOOSH-CRACK-_ _ **SLAM!**_

 _And don't come back until you've stopped sulking!_ Lugia barked, telepathic voice filled with exasperated authority. Except- this Legendary was significantly larger than Silver, and its voice was also a great deal deeper. Wait, there was _more than one_ of Lugia?!

Gold's jaw dropped as Silver-Lugia landed gracelessly in the dirt, sending clods of dirt flying from the impact. _Father!_ he protested, and oh, yep, that was definitely Silver. Voice was a bit deeper, a bit more echoey, but no doubt the same.

 _No!_ Big-Lugia (Silver's _father_ holy _s***,_ but wait a minute if Big-Lugia was Silver's dad then what about Giovanni?) snapped. _No excuses! You have been moping around for weeks now, and I'm tired of it! If your friend is truly as great a friend as you say, then he will understand. Now,_ he drew himself up and glared at Silver, _you are no longer a child. It's high time you stopped running away from your problems._

With that, Big-Lugia spread his wings and took off, the wind from his passage nearly toppling every tree in the forest. Within seconds he had wheeled around and vanished, a rapidly fading white speck in the distance.

Silver growled and shook himself off, towering over Gold as he stood at his full height. For a moment, neither one moved, only stared at each other across the clearing.

Gold broke the silence. "So," he started, "you're a pokémon."

Silver nodded. _Yes_.

Gold crossed his arms, a frown stretching across his face. "And you didn't tell me _because...?_ "

His best friend huffed. _It's not exactly something I like to spread around,_ the Legendary pointed out. Then he paused, tentatively venturing, _You don't seem that, ah..._

"Angry? Shocked? Confused? Extremely annoyed at you for not telling me and then running off for a month?" Gold finished, voice tight. "Because yeah, I was all that. It took me a while to calm down. You just weren't around to see it."

Silver winced at the not-so-subtle barb, his contrite expression strange to see as it was so at odds with his normal personality. _Sorry,_ he muttered, head actually drooping a bit.

Gold sighed and fidgeted with the edge of his jacket. "It's okay. I'm fine now... I think."

Silver cast him a glance, hope hidden behind a wary facade. _You don't mind that I'm half pokémon?_

"No, not really. It's just kinda weird. I mean, I thought there was only one of each Legendary, but I guess there's more? And- wait, _half_ pokémon?" Gold asked, startled. "Half, pokémon, half what?"

 _Half human,_ Silver replied. _My mother was human. My father, as you just saw, is Lugia._

Gold blinked and sputtered. "Wait, how does that even work? I mean, Lugia is, like, y'know... _Lugia_. That doesn't- no, that can't be physically possible, _what?_ "

Silver rolled his eyes, a familiar motion that eased something tight in Gold's chest that he hadn't even realized was there. _Well, it is,_ the other teen told him. _Sit down. I'll explain._

* * *

"So... your father is one of three full-blooded lugias currently in existence. You have a younger half brother named Sterling, but he insists on calling himself Silver to imitate you. Giovanni is actually your uncle on your mother's side, not your father. Legendaries can take human form, though interspecies relationships are rare. You can transform into a lugia. And you're currently pretending to be a full human because you wanted to follow in your mother's footsteps and become a pokémon trainer. You never actually abused or mistreated your pokémon, just trained them hard because that was how you were trained by both Giovanni and your father," Gold summed up after nearly an hour of talking. "That pretty much cover everything?"

 _Essentially,_ Silver confirmed. _Any other questions?_

Gold pondered for a moment before shaking his head. "Nah, I think that's it for now. Great Arceus, though. I feel like my life just got so much more surreal..." He rubbed his eyes, convinced he was going to get a migraine from all the new revelations. After a moment, he added, "I'm glad we're still friends, though."

Silver looked immensely satisfied and just a little bit relieved. _Yes_.

Gold smiled. Then a thought occurred to him, as a mischievous grin spread across his face. "Hey," he started, "so, I told my mom I would meet her in Goldenrod to help her with some errand for Professor Elm, but that's nearly all the way on the other side of the region. And you can fly, right? So... mind giving me a lift?"

He received a growl in response and was promptly cuffed over the head by a very large, very heavy wing. Oh. Guess that meant no, then.

Darn.


	4. Extra- Adik

**HUGE THANKS to Seas and Shadows, AnonymousZzzZz, Teraunce, and natsuko-aya for reviewing!**

 **...So, I know this is marked as completed, and I hadn't planned to write much more in this universe (currently working on a parallel AU where it's Gold who's the half-Legendary instead, actually- would anybody be interested in that, by the way?) but I was rereading the reviews and since a few people asked for more, I suddenly got inspiration for whatever reason and wrote this entire bit in an hour or two. It's less edited than the previous chapters, and a lot shorter, but it's still something, right? Honestly, those reviews are amazing. They're really motivational; you guys are all so awesome! :D**

 **Anyways, please let me know what I did well, what I did terribly, and so on. I wasn't totally sure if they were all in character for this piece, to be honest. Feels a little, I dunno, weird to me. But maybe that's just me. At any rate, enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. I wish I did, just like millions of other people in the world, but I don't. Oh well.**

* * *

 _Adik: Malay, meaning "younger brother"_

* * *

"SILVER!"

The shout was accompanied by running footsteps, pattering against the dirt road. Gold spun around at the sound of it, startled. The shouter's voice was young and high pitched, like a little kid or preteen whose voice hadn't cracked yet. But who-?

Silver paused, resignation clear on his face. "Arceus, _why?_ " he muttered aggravatedly as he turned. "Gold, brace yourself."

"Huh?" Gold looked at Silver, then down the road. A tiny figure could be seen in the distance, sprinting towards them at a speed that seemed far too fast for someone that small. "Silver, what's going on?"

The redhead sighed, crossing his arms as he planted his feet in the road like he was preparing to weather a storm or something. "My brother has been nagging me about wanting to meet you for weeks now," he ground out. "It seems we've gone close enough to the coast that he decided to seek us out on his own rather than waiting for permission, which I _know_ has not been given. That little _brat._ "

Gold was confused, but he wasn't entirely stupid. Already he was putting the pieces together, adding two and two and coming up with four. "Your little brother. The _lugia._ "

Silver closed his eyes. "Yes."

"He wants to meet me?"

"Yes."

"...Oh." Gold pondered this for a moment. An actual Legendary wanted to meet him. _Him._ Admittedly a very young Legendary, who was his best friend's younger brother, but still. That was… pretty freaking awesome, actually.

"No, it's really not," Silver groaned, making Gold suddenly realize that he'd said that aloud. Oops. "He's a hyperactive child who still acts like he's five years old, even though he's well over a decade. He hasn't fully mastered the human transformation, either, which is why he _really shouldn't be here-_ "

"SILVER! SILVER SILVER SILVER _BIG BROTHER!_ "

Gold jerked back in surprise as a colorful blur rocketed past him, hitting his friend with what looked like all the force of a rapidash at full speed. Silver grunted and stumbled back a few steps, regaining his balance within a few seconds. When he straightened up, however, there was a child clinging stubbornly to his front.

"Sterling," Silver sighed again, reaching down to disentangle the boy's hands from where they were twisted into his shirt. "What have I told you about sneaking away? Remember what happened last time?"

All he got in response was a muffled string of unintelligible words. Silver rolled his eyes, appearing as long-suffering as a person could possibly be. Gold could only stare, attempting to reconcile his previous image of _great and powerful Legendary_ with _hyperactive child_ inside his head. For all intents and purposes, Sterling looked… remarkably normal, actually, if not for the superhuman physical capabilities he had just displayed.

Then Sterling looked up, twisting around to face him, and Gold promptly had to rethink that last bit.

The boy's hair was a deep midnight blue like ocean depths, quicksilver appearing to dart along each strand when hit by the light at just the right angle. His eyes were such a dark shade of red they almost seemed black, but otherwise normal. Gold supposed he couldn't say anything on that front- his were the color of a precious metal, after all. Around those eyes were two symmetrically identical darker patches of skin, elongated triangles that seemed to enclose the boy's eyes before sweeping up into his hairline. Sterling's face was also quite angular, bordering on nearly unnatural, and when he smiled Gold could see a flash of tiny yet sharp-pointed fangs.

But the child's _skin._ Now, _that_ was the most obviously inhuman part.

If Gold didn't know better, he would have thought that the strange layer of what appeared to be gossamer _feathers_ patterning every inch of visible skin was an intricate, full-body tattoo or body paint. They shimmered with every movement, a pale white-silver so fine they were nearly invisible. Subtle, hardly there at all, but just enough to grab attention.

"Um," Gold said after a beat of silence, "hi?"

Sterling scrutinized him carefully, head tilting in a way that reminded Gold distinctly of Silver's fearow. Or even Silver himself, on occasion. In that moment, the pair's blood relation was obvious, even if they physically looked virtually nothing alike. "You're taller than I expected," the kid blurted out, sounding oddly serious. "I didn't know you were taller than Brother."

Silver ground his teeth. Gold tried very hard not to laugh. "Well," he told Sterling, "I'm pretty sure I ate more vegetables than he did when I was a kid, so that's probably why."

Sterling blinked. "Oh." He cautiously detached himself from his older sibling, oblivious to Silver's relieved exhale. "Really?" He looked down, suddenly shy.

Gold almost wanted to coo at him. Inhuman features aside, the boy was actually quite adorable. It was only the protective death-glare that Silver had leveled at him over Sterling's head that stopped him from getting too close.

"Again," Silver interjected somewhat testily, "Sterling. What have I said about sneaking off?"

Sterling wilted slightly, the very picture of contrite guilt. "Uh… not to?"

Silver nodded. "Exactly. Let me repeat this, since you were clearly ignoring it earlier: don't you remember what happened last time? You don't want to make Mother worry about you again, do you?"

The younger boy's shoulders slumped further. "Yeah, I guess…"

Gold did feel a bit sympathetic for the kid. He was just overexcited, that was all. Eager and somewhat careless, much like Gold himself had been when he was younger. Still sort of was, actually. He just… thought ahead a bit more, now. And he had the skills to bail himself out of trouble if the situation called for it, which Sterling did not seem to have.

"Hey," he crouched down to be at eye level with his friend's brother, "to be honest, I've wanted to meet you too. You seem like a really cool kid. But y'know what? Your parents are probably really worried. I know my mom would have been if I had just run off like you did. She'd be looking all over the place for me. And I don't know what happened last time, but it doesn't sound like anything good. So why don't we take you back to your parents, and then meet up later- with their permission -so we can get to know each other then? How does that sound, huh?"

Sterling frowned, lower lip jutting out in a pout. "But I wanted to meet you," he whined plaintively. "And I haven't seen Brother in _forever._ He hasn't come home for a month!"

"No, I _was_ home for a month and only left two weeks ago," Silver corrected.

"But you didn't _do_ anything with me then!" Sterling pointed out with all the petulant annoyance a child his age could muster. "You just sat around and acted sad!"

Gold blinked, confused. He couldn't remember any long stretch of time when Silver had been acting particularly sad, so when-

 _...Oh. Never mind._

He remembered now. For a month, leaving only two weeks previous. That had been when Silver had disappeared after Gold witnessed him transform… and when Gold had learned of the redhead's secret.

Ah. No wonder Sterling was pouting. Gold couldn't imagine Silver being any sort of fun during then.

Silver frowned, a vague expression of guilt crossing his face. "No, I guess I didn't…" he admitted. "Sorry. But Gold is right. Mother is going to be very worried if she isn't already, and you really shouldn't have left without having Mother or Father's permission. You still haven't managed to fully master the human transformation, either. What if someone else had seen you?"

"...Alright, fine," Sterling relented, crestfallen. "But you promise to come home soon? And bring Gold with you?"

Silver paused. "Well, I can't bring Gold home with me," he told Sterling, "but we can meet somewhere else." He cast an apologetic glance at his friend.

Gold smiled and shrugged at him. He understood. The home of a Legendary was a sacred place, not somewhere outsiders could venture into. Honestly, he was more surprised by how uncharacteristically nice Silver was acting. He figured it was probably due to the presence of Sterling. Little kids had some sort of magical power that made everybody nice to them, Gold knew. It was obvious.

Sterling thought the offer over, and apparently deemed it satisfactory when he nodded in agreement. "Okay."

"Good." Silver got to his feet, glancing up at the sky as if he expected to see Mama Lugia descending on them at any minute. Although, to be fair, that was an entirely likely scenario. "Alright, where did you leave from? That cove a couple miles down the road, or somewhere else?"

"The cove," Sterling told him quietly.

Gold stood as well and grinned down at the boy, arranging himself so that he and Silver were on either side of the kid. "Alright, then! Let's get you back to your parents, eh? We can talk on the way, if you want," he spoke cheerfully.

Sterling perked up at his words, looking excited. "Really? Okay!"

Gold chuckled. Ah, little kids and their mood swings. Adorable.

Silver rolled his eyes and muttered, "Dear Arceus, there's going to be two of them."

* * *

A week later, Gold found himself in the rather strange position of being surrounded by four Legendaries, twelve more ordinary pokémon, and attempting to avoid any accidental actions that would anger the very dangerous, very overprotective members of Sterling's family. Silver, for all that he pretended to be tough, simply couldn't say no to the younger lugia. Sterling's mother, on the other hand, was (rightfully) rather wary of Gold, which was understandable considering what had happened the last time Sterling had gotten any sort of human contact besides his brother.

(Silver had filled Gold in on the story. It… hadn't ended well, to say the least. Gold added it onto his mental list as another reason to hate Team Rocket.)

Sterling and Silver's father was rather distant, comparatively speaking. He hadn't said much to Gold, only studied him for an uncomfortably long amount of time before apparently deciding that he passed whatever unspoken test there was and then settled off the the side, watching but not interacting.

"Whoa! Careful!" Gold yelped as Sterling dove into the water, the slipstream of his passing nearly knocking Gold off his feet. Sterling resurfaced, tail flicking splashes of water at the golden-eyed teen. Gold sputtered, futilely attempting to shield his face with one arm as Sterling laughed at him.

Silver, looming over Gold in his lugia form, snickered. Dipping one large wing into the water, he pushed out a much larger wave that hit Sterling full in the face. The smaller lugia squeaked in surprise and went under. Gold could see his distorted form tumbling under the water before swimming around the rock he sat on, breaching the surface behind Silver in an attempt to tackle his back. Gold laughed as Silver, who had seen in coming, merely twisted around, held out one wing, and let Sterling bounce harmlessly off of it.

Watching them, Gold was struck by how _bizarre_ his life had suddenly gotten. It wasn't as if it had been ordinary before, not by a long shot, but now it had transcended even that. He regularly interacted with a Legendary pokémon nowadays. Heck, his best friend _was_ a Legendary pokémon! Or half, at least. Close enough.

For a moment, Gold wondered what it would be like to be normal.

Then Silver got a sly glint in his eye, flicked his tail, and without warning scooped up Gold with one wing and tossed him into the water. Gold most definitely did _not_ shriek or flail, thank you very much, he calmly made a noise of surprise and did a perfect swan dive into the water. Anyone who says otherwise is making stuff up.

 _Nah,_ he decided as he surfaced, pushing sopping wet hair out of his eyes and grinning as he immediately began to plan his revenge. _Normal is overrated._

"Hey, Silver!" he bellowed, treading water and trying not to get swamped by the waves Sterling and his brother had stirred up, "I challenge you to a splash fight!"

Later, after belatedly realizing that he had made what his mother would call an Extremely Bad Decision, he would remember that lugia were also known as the Diving Pokémon, the Guardians of the Sea. In other words, that meant that they were very, _very_ good with water.

Gold was human. He was… less good, to put it nicely.

Oops.


End file.
